Design Issues I
Plain Language Layout and Design
By Cheryl Stephens
Appearances count. The documents that
get read are those that:

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Appear easy to read |
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Appear interesting |

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Appear brief |
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Appear important |
If the layout of your document makes reading it difficult,
only the most committed readers will try to overcome the
obstacles. Good layout not only removes obstacles to reading but
also exposes good organization. Design of text on a page can
enhance the language-it can physically show the relationships
between ideas or things.
Some of the obstacles to reading are:

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The centering of headings and other textual components. |
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The arbitrary changing of the internal spacing of the
material in order to force the text to fill out a fixed depth and
width. |

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The inconsistent grouping or ordering of elements. |
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The excessive use of indentation, suggesting paragraph breaks
where they aren't really needed. |
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An excessive variety in sizes, styles, and weights of
typefaces for heading levels. |
At this stage in the writing process, the audience analysis
you did earlier will guide you in making decisions about
appropriate graphic design for the particular audience. Your
constraints will also come to bear on the project at this
time:
The components of graphic design are:
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Structure, topical divisions |
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Type, size and style |
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White space, margins and open spaces |
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Special treatments, for emphasis |
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Paper, type and color |
In recent years, much research has gone into the design
aspects of publishing. Desktop publishing, presentation graphics,
forms design, and other techniques require expertise which is
seldom available in most offices.
Design is the area where legal writing faces its most limiting
constraints. There is very little room to manoeuvre in the
confines of the prescribed forms and traditional formats. Yet
with some basic information about the most modern techniques, you
will be able to make maximum use of the design tools available to
you.
Your office word-processing system should have the ability to
handle these design features:
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Choice of typeface |
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Capitalization |
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Bullets and daggers |
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White space |
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Quotation marks |
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Bold face |
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Indentation |
Keep in mind these two basic human characteristics:
- The eye is first attracted by the largest, most dominant
matter on the page.
- Absent any special feature or guide to eye movement, the eye
will start slightly off center and travel in a clockwise
direction.
The Basic Rules of Graphic Design
Type Face and Size
The term typeface refers to the family of
lettering which is used, such as Times Roman, Arial, or Courier.
There are two basic kinds of typefaces:
Â-Roman (serif) and Gothic (sans serif). Times Roman is a typical
serif typeface, while Arial is a typical sans-serif typeface. In
a printer's terminology, a font is a
variation of a certain typeface, and includes normal, italic,
bold, and italic bold. In Microsoft literature, fonts are known
as typeface styles.
Serif and san serif are important considerations. Roman types
have serifs-the distinctive short lines stemming from and at an
angle to the upper and lower strokes of a letter.
This text is in Arial, a popular
sans-serif typeface using proportional spacing. Sans-serif
typefaces are often used in Web pages because of their legibility
when displayed on monitors.
This text is in Courier typeface, a monospaced
serifed typeface once popular in typewriters and now very popular
with designers.
This text is in Times Roman, a proportionally
spaced serif typeface that is very legible in printed
documents.
The Romans left this serif when finishing with the
chisel. The Gothic or Modern style eliminates this line and has a
stark appearance. Serifed type is easier to read because the
serif makes the letter more easily recognized.
The size of the typeface is another important
issue. The "fine print" in legal documents which has
been decried for years is usually smaller than 8 point. Most
people are comfortable reading 10 point or larger. People who
have reached the age of bifocals find a larger type size more
comfortable-10 to 12 point.
White or Blank Space
The text and artwork is called positive space in a
layout. The white space which surrounds text is the negative
space. Think of the white space framing and flowing through your
text. Modern word-processing systems offer a multitude of ways to
alter the traditional amount of white space.
Margins should be at least 1 inch on top, bottom,
left and right margins. The text line length should be no more
than 5 inches wide. Other white space can be achieved by using
relatively short paragraphs, varying the size of paragraphs,
using sub-heads and indentations, and making indented lists of
items.
The white space between text lines must avoid a
cramped appearance making the text hard to read, but must not be
so deep as to destroy a sense of continuity. The distance between
lines of text should be 70% to 80% of the height of the type
print. Triple spacing between lines of text is excessive. With
word processing programs you can set the "line spacing"
in increments anywhere between 1 and 2.
While ample white space is essential to make your
document readable, it should not appear as waste space. There is
a fine line between enough white space and what looks like
awkward, wasted space. White space makes your document attractive
and highlights important relationships in the text. But don't
let yourself become so involved in the negative space that you
lose sight of more substantial concerns.
Capitals and Lowercase
Capital letters begin sentences and proper names.
Any other uses should be reconsidered. Use of lowercase
facilitates recognition of words. Capitalized words are
rectangular blocks and a full line of them becomes a box of
horizontal lines. Capitalized words may be used as headings or
for emphasis, but should be kept to a minimum. Don't include
units of more than three or four capitalized words in text.
Words in lowercase have distinctive shapes which we
recognize. Lowercase letters have characteristics described as
ascenders and descenders -- the heads and tails of letters
which make them distinctive.
The Length of the Line
The optimum length of line of text is the one that
is most comfortable for eye movements. Shorter lines increase the
number of eye movements while longer lines make it harder to keep
your eye on the correct line. The best length lies somewhere
between 3 1/2 inches and 5 inches. This can vary from 40 to 70
letters or character spaces per inch depending on the chosen
typeface and typesize. Whenever possible in legal documents,
columns are the preferable way to layout text.
Margins are determined by the need for white space
and the optimum width of text line. Ragged right margins make
text easier to read. The eye can use the variation in line
endings to help keep track as the eye moves down the text. Ragged
right margins permit the spacing between words and between
letters in words to remain constant and regular. Justified right
margins require the word processing program to alter the spacing
between letters and words to stretch the text to the right
margin.
Justified left margins are common practice and
preferable. Word-processing programs have made centered titles
easier to use, but this is not the best way to layout several
lines of text. Whenever possible, place headings and subheadings
at the left margin. In a table of contents, the page numbers
should be set out in the left column rather than the right.
Lists and Tabulations
Lists can make text items as easy to read as tables
of numbers. The items must be similar in nature, parallel in form
and of equal importance. Lists are a visual way to focus
information. Review your draft for suitable lists embedded in the
text. Lists should include at least 3 items and not more than 7.
People remember things better in groups of 3 and with more than 7
focus of the list is lost.
Use these formatting options to set lists off from
text:
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Spacing to establish a separate unit. |
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Indentation, at the left only or both left and right. |
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Numerical or alphabetic listing where you want to prioritize
the items. |
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Special characters where there is no
priority, such as: |
|

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Asterisks -- the easiest emphasis |
| |

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Bullets -- for short lists of short phrases |
| |

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Dashes -- for longer lists of sentences or
paragraphs |
| |

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Boxes -- for checklists or when ticking the box is
useful |
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Double-column format for long lists of short items |
Columns
Shorter columns are easier to read than text which
is spread 6.5 inches across an 8.5 by 11-inch page. A shorter
single column is easiest to read, but the number of words to fit
on the page may dictate the use of two columns.
Paper
Paper size and colour are usually dictated by the
form of document. Other factors to consider are:
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Bulk weight, thickness of individual sheets |
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Density or opacity |
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Finish, dull or glossy |
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Colour |
Colour
Colour can be used in paper, type, graphics or
background.
Coloured paper can maximize the contrast between
the type image and the paper. If the document will be
photocopied, then white is preferable. Otherwise, a pale yellow
offers the best contrast without glare. Although the vivid
orange-yellow sold as "goldenrod" is cheaper than other
coloured papers, older people and those with poor eyesight have
difficulty reading black print on goldenrod, and they can even
experience nausea.
There is also colour psychology to
consider. Reds, oranges and yellows give a feeling of warmth
while greens, blues and violets are perceived as cool colors.
Younger audiences respond well to warmer colours while mature
audiences prefer the cooler colours.
There are also cultural issues with colours. In
Europe and North America, we associate white with youth, marriage and beginnings. In Japan and India white is the funeral
colour having the same connotation as black does here.
Different professions respond differently to
colour. Red may excite moviegoers, but it is negative to
accountants, healthy to doctors and danger to engineers. Yellow
is happiness to movie- goers, importance to financiers, jaundice
to medicos and caution for engineers. Pale green represents calm
repose.
The Citibank simplified bank note was printed with
the text in a subdued green type. The title and the major
dividing lines were in black and the paper was a pale buff.
Graphics
A picture is worth a thousand words -- trite
but true. While tables are effective for actual numbers, graphics
can show trends, directions, comparisons, and
inter-relationships. Graphics include:
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Bar charts |
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Line graphs |
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Pie charts |
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Diagrams |
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Line drawings |
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Logos |
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Maps |
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Illustrations |
© 2000 Cheryl Stephens All rights
reserved.
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